China lies and IOC complies
Aug 1st, 2008 | By David Harper | Category: OpinionJacquelin Magnay: Okay, who lied? The cosy deal between two of the world’s biggest and most powerful organisations - the Chinese Communist Party and the International Olympic Committee - to strip away media freedoms, so starkly exposed midweek, reflects badly on both.
The Communist Party doesn’t care what the rest of the world thinks. It just wants to control what the Chinese population thinks. Clearly its decision to impose restrictions on internet access at late notice is annoying for the 20,000 members of the world’s media. But for the locals, the meaning of this order is far more significant.